Refrigerator car



Nov. 14, 1939 an. BONSALL 2,179,681

' REFRIGERATOR GAR Fil ed Oct. 1, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 a "A? 111% in 2 [nvenfon- Char/e5 050/754 Affor/yey Nov. 14, 1939. c. b. BONSALL REFRIGERATOR CAR Filed on. 1, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 0 fl 2 6 l r M M m m n B r w w e 0 W D 4 I f a A w 0 Z 6 4 w 0 3 Z 4 7 9. 4 M f mg 6 //I.\.\\ W 7 5 4 I 6 4 b 4 Nov. 14, 1939.

c. D. BONSALL REFRIGERATOR CAR 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 1, 1938 Afforne usually about four feet wide.

Patented Nov. 14, M1 39 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFEEE REFRIGERATOR CAR ware Application October 1, 1938, Serial No. 232,741

12 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerator cars used to transport perishable commodities at a predetermined temperature. The essential features of such a car are an insulated structure and a re-' frigerating means for use in warm weather or a heating means for use in cold weather.

The invention relates particularly to refrigerator cars of the overhead bunker type. Cars of this type have the refrigerant containers suspended immediately below thereof. They are often provided with drip pans below the containers to form refrigerant compartments below the roof and adjacent the side walls of the car. It is also common to provide vertical lines associated with the side walls and extending to near the floor. These lines serve as passages for the flow of refrigerated' air from the refrigerant compartment to below the floor racks of the car so that it may circulate upwardly through the lading. The fiues also serve to drain off melted refrigerant when a foraminous or semi-foraminous container is used or condensation from the container when liquid "retaining tanks are used.

Each side Wall of a refrigerator car is provided with a door through which lading is transported into the car. These doors must be large enough to allow passage of a truck therethrough and are The refrigeration of the car is dependent upon cold air circulating downwardly through the above mentioned flues which are associated with the side walls of the car.

The refrigerating efliciency is increased by having the melted refrigerant circulate with the air to further cool the air during passage through the side wall dues and to further insulate the Walls of the car.

To interrupt a flue for a distance of four feet would obviously lessen the refrigerating efficiency, particularly since the interruption would be at the doorway where more refrigeration is desirable to overcome the effect of insulation deficiencies at the door joints.

The problem of maintaining adequate refrigeration adjacent the doorway has been solved by providing fines or ducts on the doors. When the doors are closed, the ducts are aligned with the side Wall flues to form a continuous passage for the air and liquid from the refrigerant compartment to the lower part of the car. In other words, the operation is as if the door were non-existent.

When the doors are opened, however, the passage becomes discontinuous and the liquid which was flowing through the duct in the doorfalls through the doorway. The lading which is hauled through the doorway is often of atype which may be damaged by water. Furthermore, the clothing of the workers would be made moist by the cold liquid, thus creating unpleasant and hazardous working conditions in addition to the danger of having a costly lading damaged.

The amount of liquid flowing through the side Wall fiues is usually increased by the opening of the doors. Heat enters the car and melts more erant "at a rapid rate with a consequent large amount of liquid flowing through the lines.

The object of this invention is to provide a means to prevent the dripping of liquid upon lading and workers which are passing through the doorway during loading or unloading of the car. It is a further object to prevent the aforesaid dripping without impairing in any way the normal flow'of 'air and liquid through the door duct when the door is closed; The operation of the devicewhichl claim as my invention will be completely described by referring to the drawings.

In thedrawings: l Fig.-1 is a transverse section through a door of a refrigerator car equ'ippedwith my invention. Fig. 2 isafragmentary section of the car shown in Fig. 1 having the door open.

' Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view from inside the car shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows a modified construction with the door 'open.

Fig. 5 is the construction of Fig. 4 with the door i closed. r

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view from inside the car shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. '7 isa section on line 1-7 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 shows another modified construction with the door open."

' Fig. 9 is the construction of Fig. 8 with the door closed. t

Fig.10 is a section on line |9-I8 of'Fig. 8. N

Fig. 11 is a section on line ll-ll of Fig. 10."

In the refrigerator car shown in Fig. l, the usual partsare shown, such as, sub-floor 2; floor 3, side sill 4, floor rack'fi, side sheathing 5, side lining sheet l, false wall 8 forming th'e'flue 9, roof l0, ceiling ll, side plate l2, inner side plate l3, refrigerant container l4, drip pan I5, door [5 having a false wall l1 forming the duct l8, threshhold plate 19, and insulation 20. The container 14 shown is a semi-foraminous container intended to retain some brine inthe imperforate lower part. When the brine reaches a certain level, some of it spills through the apertures 2| and flows downwardly over the drip pan [5 and through the flue 9. When the door I6 is closed as shown in Fig. 1, the liquid flows through the duct 18 to the lower part of the car where means may be provided to drain it.

A trough 3|! is provided to underlie the portion of the flue 9 immediately above the doorway. The trough 30, as shown in Fig. 3, extends the width of the doorway at the upper part thereof. The lines 3| indicate the side edges of the doorway while the line 32 indicates the top edge thereof. When the door is is open'as shown in Fig. 2, the trough 30 underlies the flue 9 to catch liquid flowing through said flue. This prevents the liquid from falling through the doorway and damaging the lading being hauled into the car. Liquid falling on the workers would also interfere with their work. When the door I6 is closed as shown in Fig. 1, the trough 38 is moved inwardly by the top of the false wall H, thus allowing the duct l8 to align with the flue 9- and form a continuous passage for flow of air and liquid to the floor of the car. The trough38 is hinged (33) to the car structure and torsional springs 34 are provided to yieldingly hold said trough in the position underlying the flue 9. A drain plug 35, or cook valve, is provided to drain liquid from the trough 38.

Figs. 4 to '7 show a modified construction intended for the same purpose as that heretofore described. The trough 40 is made of sheet metal having preferably the contour shown in Fig. '7. At each end of the trough 40 is secured a short length of round tube 4|. A strap 42 is secured to each tube 4| and is pivoted at its opposite end on the pin 43. A bracket 44 is secured at each side 3| of the doorway and supports the pin 43.

Each bracket 44 is also provided with a slot 45' formed as an arc of a circle, the slotbeing adapted to receive one end of the tube 4| as the, trough 40 moves about thepin 43. A hollow portion 46 communicates with the slot 45 to receive liquid from the trough 40 and a pipe 41 communicates with the hollow portion 46 to drain said liquid to the lower part of the car. An auxiliary hinge 48 supports the center of the trough and a torsionally acting spring 49 tends to yieldingly hold the trough 40 in a position underlying the flue 9. When the door I6 is closed as shown in Fig. 5, the trough is moved inwardly and the duct 8 aligns with the flue .9 to form an unobstructed passage for air and liquid.

Figs. 8 to 11 show another modified construction intended for the same purpose as those heretofore described. The trough 60 is provided above .the upper edge of the doorway and is hinged (6|) close to the drip pan l5 by means of the straps 62 An opening 63 is provided in the false wall 8 a short distance above the top of the doorway. The trough 60 is arranged to move through the opening 63 and has attached thereto a-member 64 adapted to close said opening. A downwardly projecting piece 65 isattached to the trough 60 so that when the door is closed as shown in Fig. 9, the upper part of the false wall 8 bears against the piece 65 and moves said trough to the position shown. The duct I8 is aligned with the flue 9 to form a continuous passage to the lower part of the car. A torsional spring 66 yieldingly holds the trough 60 in the position shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 shows a horizontal section through the trough 60. The bodypart 61 of the trough 60 is arranged in the flue 9 above the doorway. The flue 68 is adjacent the doorway and the trough 6|] is provided with a portion 69 communicating with the flue 68. The trough 6|] is sloped downwardly towards the portion 69 so that liquid which drains into the flue flows into the flue 68. The flue 68 is uninterrupted to the lower part of the car.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, a trough aligned with said flue to catch liquid flowing therein above said doorway when the door is open and arranged to be moved out of alignment with said flue when the door is closed.

2. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, a trough substantially closing said flue above said doorway when the door is open and arranged to open said flue when the door is closed, thereby permitting liquid to flow through said duct.

3. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, a trough aligned with said flue to catch liquid flowing therein above said doorway when the door is open and arranged to be moved out of alignment with said flue by the closing of said door.

4. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerator compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed, to form a continuous passage, a trough within said flue to catch liquid flowing therein above said doorway when the door is open and arranged to be moved out of said flue when 7' the door is closed.

5. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from saidcompartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, the combination of a trough aligned with said flue to catch liquid flowing therein above said doorway when the door is open and arranged to be moved out of alignment with said flue when the door is closed, and means to drain the liquid from said trough.

6. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, the combination of a trough aligned with said flue to catch liquid flowing therein above said doorway when the door is open and arranged to be moved out of alignment with said flue when the door is closed, and a bracket secured to the car structure and adapted for slidable engagement of said trough therewith, said bracket arranged to transmit liquid from said trough to the lower part of the car.

7. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, a trough aligned with said flue to catch liquid flowing therein above said doorway when the door is open and arranged to be moved out of alignment with said flue when the door is closed, said trough having a portion which communicates with said flue for draining of liquid.

8. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said Wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having asociated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, the combination of a trough underlying the portion of said flue above said doorway when the door is open and being pivotally secured to the car structure, and a spring tending to hold said trough in its underlying position, said trough being arranged to be swung out of alignment with said flue by the closing of said door.

9. A structure as defined in claim 7 wherein said trough slopes downwardly toward said portion.

10. In a refrigerator car having spaced apart insulated walls, an insulated roof extending therebetween, a drip pan sloping downwardly toward one of said walls and spaced below said roof to provide a refrigerant compartment therebetween, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue, and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, means to prevent flow of liquid through said doorway when the door is open and to permit flow of liquid through said duct when the door is closed.

11. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, means to prevent flow of liquid through said doorway when the door is open and to permit flow of liquid through said duct when the door is closed.

12. In a refrigerator car having an insulated wall, a refrigerant compartment adjacent said wall, a flue associated with said wall and arranged to transmit air and liquid from said compartment to the lower part of the car, a doorway through said wall and said flue below said compartment and a door adapted to close the doorway in said wall, said door having associated therewith a duct which aligns with said flue when the door is closed to form a continuous passage, means to prevent flow of air and liquid through said doorway when the door is open and to permit flow of air and liquid through said duct when the door is closed.

CHARLES D. BONSALL. 

